Certain embodiments of the present invention are directed to computer technology. More particularly, some embodiments of the invention provide systems and methods for communication technology. Merely by way of example, some embodiments of the invention have been applied to image sharing. But it would be recognized that the invention has a much broader range of applicability.
Social networking services (SNS) often provide online shared albums as a fundamental and essential feature. Many SNS websites, such as Renren and Kaixin, offer shared album services. Some instant messaging applications, such as QQ, WeChat and Fetion, also provide shared album services. A user uploads his/her photos or images to a shared album created beforehand on a SNS website so that other users can browse or comment on the album, hence realizing image sharing.
At present, there are usually two types of shared albums in a messaging application. For example, a shared album is exclusive to a single user and only the user can upload images to the shared album for other users to browse or comment. In another example, a shared album is dedicated to an entire conversation group (such as a QQ group) of which members can upload images to this shared album for the other members to browse or comment. However, a user often needs to choose to upload images to a shared album in a messaging application, which limits the sources of images for the shared album. In addition, for a conversation group, particularly a temporary conversation group, such as a discussion group in QQ, the images shared by the members during a conversation and the comments on the images are not accumulated and stored, which makes it inconvenient for future image viewing and management.
Hence it is highly desirable to improve the techniques for image sharing.